1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation image capturing system having a radiation conversion panel for detecting a radiation that has passed through a subject and converting the detected radiation into radiation image information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the medical field, there have widely been used radiation image capturing apparatus which apply a radiation to a subject and guide the radiation that has passed through the subject to a radiation conversion panel, which captures a radiation image from the radiation. Known forms of the radiation conversion panel include a conventional radiation film for recording a radiation image by way of exposure, and a stimulable phosphor panel for storing a radiation energy representing a radiation image in a phosphor and reproducing the radiation image as stimulated light by applying stimulating light to the phosphor. The radiation film with the recorded radiation image is supplied to a developing device to develop the radiation image, or the stimulable phosphor panel is supplied to a reading device to read the radiation image as a visible image.
In the operating room or the like, it is necessary to read and display a recorded radiation image immediately from a radiation conversion panel after the radiation image is captured for the purpose of quickly and appropriately treating the patient. As a radiation conversion panel which meets such a requirement, there has been developed a radiation detector having a solid-state detector for converting a radiation directly into an electric signal or converting a radiation into visible light with a scintillator and then converting the visible light into an electric signal to read a detected radiation image.
In a radiation image capturing system which employs a radiation detecting cassette housing a radiation conversion panel therein, cassette ID information is assigned to the radiation detecting cassette, and the radiation detecting cassette is identified for use in capturing a radiation image based on the cassette ID information, so that the radiation image can efficiently be captured by the radiation conversion panel (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-191586, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-248095, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-141473).
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-191586 discloses an X-ray image capturing apparatus in which when a radiation detecting cassette is loaded in a relay device connected to a controller, a communication key based on cassette ID information is assigned to the radiation detecting cassette, and when the radiation detecting cassette is unloaded from the relay device, a radiation image is captured using the radiation detecting cassette, and the communication key is invalidated if the radiation detecting cassette is not returned to the relay device within the validity period of the communication key.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-248095 discloses an X-ray digital image capturing apparatus in which based on the cassette ID information assigned to a plurality of radiation detecting cassettes stored in a cassette storage box, one of the radiation detecting cassettes that is optimum for capturing a certain radiation image is displayed on a display unit, and a doctor or radiological technician removes the radiation detecting cassette displayed on the display unit from the cassette storage box.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-141473 discloses an X-ray image capturing apparatus in which after an image capturing apparatus with a radiation source has acquired cassette ID information stored in an adapter removed from a radiation detecting cassette, the image capturing apparatus sends the cassette ID information and ID information of the radiation source to the radiation detecting cassette via a wireless link, and the radiation detecting cassette makes itself ready for capturing a radiation image based on the received ID information.
With the X-ray image capturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-191586, however, when the communication key is invalidated, it is necessary to assign a communication key again to the radiation detecting cassette. Consequently, the entire system tends to be complex.
With the X-ray digital image capturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open patent Publication No. 2002-248095, the cassette ID information is used only for selecting one of the radiation detecting cassettes that is optimum for capturing a certain radiation image from the cassette storage box. When a radiation source and a radiation detecting cassette are positioned in confronting relation to each other for capturing a radiation image, it cannot be determined whether the radiation detecting cassette that confronts the radiation source is the radiation detecting cassette that has been taken out of the cassette storage box as being optimum for capturing a radiation image or not.
With the X-ray image capturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-141473, since the image capturing apparatus acquires cassette ID information from the adapter, if the adapter is lost, then the cassette ID information cannot be given to the image capturing apparatus, which thus cannot capture a radiation image.